German Army to Field Ground-based AESA Radar

Released on Wednesday, July 19, 2006

EADS will equip the German Armed Forces with a new kind of ground surveillance radar (B�R � Boden�berwachungsradar) for reliably detecting movements both on the ground and in the air close to the ground. The B�R is specially designed for recognizing asymmetric threats. As the company announced on Wednesday, the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement BWB has placed an order in the double digit million range with EADS for the delivery of initially two system demonstrators by the end of 2009. The delivery of 78 B�R systems from the series production is planned as of 2012. They are intended to close the gap in capabilities of the German Armed Forces in the area of ground surveillance for the 25 years to follow. In addition to the order from the German Armed Forces, other nations have also already signaled interest in this innovative, powerful radar system.

The radar is based on the latest electronic scan control technology AESA (Active Electronically Scanning Array) which opens up new possibilities for detection and surveillance. Thanks to the real-time electronic beam scanning, the radar can handle several reconnaissance tasks in parallel and in doing so achieves a much higher level of reconnaissance efficiency and reliability in comparison with mechanically scanned radars. This means each B�R system can replace three conventional radars. The same technology is also used in major forward-looking projects, such as the MEADS air defence system, NATO's AGS reconnaissance system and the F124 frigate.

B�R is intended for mobile use on the DINGO 2 armored vehicle manufactured by the Munich company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann. The radar can be used to the full extent without the crew having to leave the protection of the vehicle. The high performance of the radar is largely due to the great number of transmitter and receiver modules in the aerial, which are made from special HF resistant materials and are developed and manufactured at the EADS Defence Electronics (DE) site in Ulm under clean-room conditions. EADS DE is the European pioneer of this technology supplying similar transmitter and receiver modules also for the TerraSAR space radar, for the MEADS air defence system and for the radar of the F124 frigate.